Narooma Golf Club

The town of Narooma is named after the Aboriginal word for “clear blue waters” so it’s really rather appropriate that the course stretches out on cliff tops overlooking the Pacific Ocean with views of Montague Island to the east and Glass House Rocks to the south.

Narooma Golf Club is famed for having some of the best kept greens in New South Wales and the course throws up one or two surprises with several blind tee shots to be negotiated and forced carries across water at holes 8, 10 and 15. Holes 1 to 6 sit on cliff tops above the Pacific Ocean. The course then heads inland for ten holes (with fairways flanked on either side by trees) before the routing returns to the coast for the closing two holes.

The original nine holes were laid out in 1930 but Head Greenkeeper Harold Burke rerouted the course in 1952 when the club acquired additional land. Burke made the most of the new terrain and most of these links style holes have views of the Ocean. Course Superintendent John Spencer added a new nine in 1980 and the holes are laid through woodland a little distance from the coast with several of the fairways routed around a dam.

The signature hole on the property (“Hogan’s Hole”) is the spectacular par three 3rd, requiring an ocean carry all the way from tee to green. The hole came to national prominence when the actor and comedian Paul Hogan used the site for the filming of a Winfield cigarette advertising campaign in the 1970s.

Ray Bradley kindly provided us with the following Narooma course update in August 2013:

Until 1967 the golf course was a short layout (rerouted by Harold Burke in 1952) with sand greens and no water. With the help of NZ Golf Course Architect Sloan Morpeth, a new and lengthened layout was drawn up with new teeing grounds and putting green positions. The 'Hogan Hole' had a tee constructed on the cliff top to force golfers to play to a green situated above the cave. Ray Bradley, formerly of The Australian Golf Club, constructed the new 9-hole greens and fairways (including the 'Hogan Hole') to the Architect's specifications. In 1973 Course Superintendent John Spencer came to the club and completed the second 9 holes creating this wonderful 18-hole golf course.